Automatic lock-cabinet



(No Model.)

B. W. BURNS. AUTOMATIC LOOK GABINET.

No. 566,135. Patented Aug. 18; 1896.

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EDWARD w. BURNS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC LOCK-CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 566,135, dated August 18, 1896. Application filed May 6, 1896. Serial No. 590,442. (No model.)

To all whom; it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD W. BURNS, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in AutomaticLook-Cabinets, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representinglike parts.

The present invention relates to an automatic lock-cabinet intended to be used in connection with milk-cans or analogous articles which are commonly left exposed by consumers when empty in order to be replaced by full ones, the cabinet being especially intended for use by milk-consumers when, as is usually the case, the milk-dealer goes on his rounds in the early morning, so that the custom is for the consumer to leave an empty can or jar on the door-steps or some other accessible place the night before to be taken by the milk-dealer and replaced by a can or jar full of milk. Considerable annoyance is experienced through the removal by unauthorized persons of the cans, and the lockcabinet embodying the present invention is especially designed to aiford protection against petty thefts of this kind, the cabinet being so arrangedthat the empty can may be placed in the cabinet and the cabinet then lockedby the consumer, who aloneis provided with means for locking the same,means being provided, however, for the insertion of the full can and removal of the empty one without unlocking the cabinet, the removal of the empty can being dependent upon the insertion of the full one. full can may be inserted and the empty can removed by the milk-dealer without unlocking the cabinet, the said cabinet is provided with an independent opening for the insertion of the can and means for preventing the removal thereof when once inserted, and another opening through which the empty can may be removed, said second opening being provided with a cover or door fastened by means of a device adapted to be controlled by the insertion of the full can, so that the act of inserting said 'full can unfastens the cover or door to expose the empty can. By

the use of this cabinet, therefore, the empty can is protected until it is rendered accessible In order that the by the insertion of the full can and said full can cannot then be removed from the cabinet until the same is unlocked by the consumer. The cabinet is preferably divided into two separate compartments, one of which is intended to contain the empty and the other the full can, the former being provided with a door having a fastening device adapted to be controlled by the insertion of the full can into the latter, whichin turn is provided with a door having a lock intended to be solely controlled by the consumer, and an opening for the insertion of the can together with a retaining device for the can to prevent the removal thereof except by opening the locked door, which is under the control of the con- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cabinet embodying the invention, a portion of one door being broken away to show the manner of inserting a full can, the empty can being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a similar view, partly in section, showing the door provided for the removal of the empty can open; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section on the line 00 of Fig. 1, showing both doors closed; and Fig. Fig. 4 is a similar section on a plane parallel to that of Fig. 3, but somewhat lower, showing both doors open.

The main body of the cabinet is preferably divided by a transverse vertical partition a into two compartments 1) and 0, provided, respectively, with doors 6 and 0 the door 0 of the compartment 0, which is intended to receive and contain the full can, being provided with a lock 0 hereinshown as an ordinary lock having a key 0 so that it can be fastened and the key removed. The door of the compartment b, on the other hand, is provided with an automatic fastening device adapted to be operated from the interior of the compartment c by means of an actuator adapted to be engaged by the can which is inserted in said compartment. As herein shown,the said fastening device cooperates with a hook or projection 19 secured to the inside of the door bifand consists of a hasp or catch o pivotally supported in the partition a and extending through into the compartment 0,, so as to be engaged by the top of the can when the latter is inserted through a hole 0 provided in the bottom of the cabinet for that purpose, as

shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that when the said can is inserted the hasp or locking device is turned upon its pivot and disengaged from the hook.

As shown herein, the hasp b is connected to the side of a wing or extension 29 which extends completely across the chamber 0, and is provided at its opposite end with a hinge or pivot b similar to the hasp proper h so that it is properly supported at both ends, the said wing being of such weight as to overbalance the hasp extension 11 so that it holds the latter up against the under side of the hook to maintain the door 19 fastened until said wing is lifted by the engagement therewith of the top of the can. When, therefore, the cabinet is to be used, the consumer places the empty can in the compartment 12 and closes the door thereof by a proper manipu lation of the fastening device b b, which stands, after the door is closed and fastened, in the position shown in Fig. 1. He then locks the door 0 of the compartment 0 and removes the key, the whole cabinet then being locked, so that the empty can cannot be removed by unauthorized persons. When the milk-dealer arrives he takes the full can and inserts it through the opening 0 in the bottom of the compartment 0, the top of the can then catching the locking device, so that the hasp b is disengaged from the hook b thus leaving the door of the compartment 1) free to open, so that the empty can may be removed. To prevent the removal of the full can thus inserted without unlocking the cabinet, a suitable retaining device is provided, and, as herein shown, the fastening device for the door 19 is so arranged as to serve also as a retaining device for the can. To this end the engaging portion or wing 19 is of such size and shape that the edge 19 thereof will drop under the rim of the can or jar, as shown in Fig. 2, after the said can is inserted, so that if any attempt is made to draw the can downward the said fastening device will follow downward until the can is caught between it and the wall of the cabinet, and thus finally hold it against farther downward movement.

The opening 0 moreover, is preferably made practically self-closing, as by means of flaps or wings 0, adapted to moveor yield in an upward direction, but not in a downward direction, so that the said flaps move out of the way while the can is being inserted, as shown in Fig. 1, and will then return to their original position, as shown in Fig. 2, closing the opening and forming a support for the full can, it being obvious that the removal of the can is thus quite effectually prevented, even if no additional retaining device is employed. The said flaps may be attached or applied in any usual or suitable way and made of any suitable material, and are herein shown as pieces of leather secured to the bottom of the compartment 0 around the periphery of the opening a.

By the use of a cabinet constructed in accordance with the present invention it is obvious that the annoyance caused by the theft of milk or of the empty can commonly left on the door-steps for the milk-dealer who usually goes his rounds in the early morning is largely obviated, since the mischievous class of trespassers by whom such trouble is caused will hesitate to tamper with a locked cabinet and thus lay themselves open to a much more serious charge than mere petty larceny. The

cabinet when used for this purpose is intended to be permanently fastened to the house of the consumer, so that any one forcibly opening the same is guilty of breaking and entering.

It is not intended to limit the invention to a cabinet designed solely for the use which has been hereinbefore described to illustrate the invention, since it is obvious that such cabinets might be utilized in many other ways; nor is it intended to limit the invention to the specific form of cabinet described, since many modifications might be made in the construction and arrangement thereof without departing from the invention. I

1. A lock-cabinet having two separate compartments each provided with an opening to the exterior of the cabinet, said openings each having a door, a lock for one of said doors, and a fastening device for the door of the other compartment adapted to be actuated from the interior of the compartment having the locking-door, substantially as described.

2. A lock-cabinet having two separate compartments each provided with a door, a lock for one of said doors, a fastening device for the other door, an independent opening for the insertion of an article without opening either door, and means for retaining said article within the cabinet and operating said fastening device responsive to the insertion of said article, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a cabinet having a door provided with a lock and adapted to contain an article such as a milk-can, of an opening for the insertion of a similar article without unlocking the door, and a retaining device for the article so inserted, a second door, and a fastening device therefor adapted to be controlled by the insertion of an article through said opening, substantially as described.

4. Alock-cabinethaving two separate compartments each provided with a door, a lock for one of said doors, a self-closing opening in a wall of the compartment thus locked, and a fastening device for the door of the other compartment adapted to be unfastened from the interior of the locked compartment as by the engagement therewith of an article inserted through said self-closing opening, sub

stantially as described.

5. In a lock-cabinet the combination with a compartment provided with a door adapted to be maintained closed by means of a lock, of a self-closing opening in a wall of said compartment, a separate compartment also provided with a door, a fastening device for said door, and an engaging portion of said fastening device extending into the compartment first named and adapted to be engaged by an article inserted through said self closing opening, substantially as described.

6. In a lock-cabinet the combination with the compartment 0 provided with a door 0 having a lock and key, and the, self-closing opening 0 in the wall or floor of said compartment, of a'separate compartment 1) provided with a hook on the inside thereof, a hasp pivoted between said compartments and adapted to cooperate with said hook, and a wing or extension connected with said hasp and contained Within the compartment 0, the said Wing extending across said compartment 0 whereby an article such as a can inserted through the self-closin g opening a will engage and lift said wing, the side of said article being afterward engaged by said wing, substantially as and for the purpose described.

for said compartment 0 adapted to be closed and locked, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD W. BURNS.

Witnesses:

H. J. LIVERMORE, NANCY 1?. Form. 

